Loom stop motions



April 18, 1961 F. B. WISEMAN LOOM STOP MOTIONS Filed May 8. 1953 lll lll lull I I Ill IIII II II I J H a a a w m w W% M E1 0 W w 4% d [mm FM ilnited States Patent 3 This invention relates to improvements in loom stop motions of the character used for controlling the ,opera- I tion of looms for weaving'cloth.

In the weaving process, the warp of the material is fed horizontally toward the front of the loom, being' threaded through harness frames that are suspended vertically, being supported and operated by fine wires, or other flexible devices. frames are used in side-by-side relation, and are raised and lowered alternately as the shuttle passes through the warp to provide the desired pattern of weave of the material.

If one of the supporting wires for the harness frames should break, the frame connected therewith would remain stationary, and this would result in a flaw in the material. It has been proposed heretofore to stop the machine in the event of breakage of one of the wires, but such stop devices as have been proposed, generally, have been complex of structure, difficult to apply to the loom, and often fail to indicate which of the several frames may be rendered inoperative.

Since a loom usually contains a number of harness frames, and the stoppage of the loom operation results in a loss to the owner through inactivity of the loom, it is important for the weaver to be able to detect quickly and readily the point where the breakage has occurred.

One object of this invention is to overcome the objections noted above and encountered heretofore in loom stop motions to provide for the stoppage of the loom automatically in the event of breakage of any of the harness frame connections to prevent an imperfection in the cloth resulting therefrom, which would be a loss to the Where the loom is provided with a knock-off box to control the shipper'shaft, which in turn controls the clutch and brake, the knock-off box may be used to con 1? \trol the operation of the loom according to this in'veti tion, and used in connection with the shipper shaft for that purpose.

This embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the side of the loom with the heddle frames and their operating mechanism; and

Fig. 2 is a cross-section through the loom showing diagrammatically the travel of the warp.

The invention is shown as applied to a loom of conventional form, which is illustrated only diagrammatically in the drawings and many parts thereof are omitted for clearness of illustration since the construction of the loom forms no parts of this invention. Only suflicient loom structure is shown to illustrate the application of the invention thereto.

The loom is shown as provided with a frame generally designated by the numeral 1, for supporting the operating mechanism involved in weaving the cloth. As shown in Fig. l. the Warp threads are supplied from a warp beam 2 being directed over a guide roll 3 through heddles in frames 4, over a lay 5 and cloth guide 6, to a cloth roll 7. The shuttle mechanism for supplying the weft threads and for weaving is not illustrated inasmuch as this is well known in the art, and the parts shown are illustrated rather diagrammatically, sufiiciently for an understanding of the application of this invention thereto.

The operating mechanism of the loom is moved by power under control of suitable clutches and brakes, the details of which are not illustrated, being well known in the art. These power devices are controlled, however, by a shipper shaft 8 that extends lengthwise through the loom, and this shaft in turn is controlled by a shipper lever 9 (Fig. 1), adapted for manual setting of the clutch and brake, or release thereof.

Usually several such harness The clutch may be disengaged and the brake set automatically by a knock-off box and assembly, generally indicated at 10, which includes an electromagnetic solenoid that may be set to stop the operation of the loom when desired. The manner in which the knock-ofl box 10 is connected with the shipper shaft 8 is not illustrated in detail because this connection is well known. The input circuit comprises a transformer 11 for supplying current to the control and indicator system, the transformer being connected with a source of electrical supply, and the operating parts of the circuit are grounded to the frame, as indicated, to complete the circuit therethrough.

Most looms are provided with stop motion means for controlling the operation of the loom in the event of breakage of one of the warp threads 1. This stop motion means comprises a drop wire for each of the warp threads 2, arranged in one or more rows across the width of the loom, and through which contact bars 13 extend, insulated from each other. Normally these bars are out of engagement with the drop wires but are in position to be contacted and bridged thereby upon breakage of the connected warp threads, as will be apparent from Fig. 2, and which is well known in the art. One of the contact bars 13, is connected through a circuit with the lamp 15. In the event of breakage of a Warp thread, the drop wire is lowered into contact with the bars 13, 13', bridging the latter, which automatically causes the circuit through the'connection conductor to the knock-01f box 16 to be energized by the transformer 11, and this'in turn controls the loom, stopping the operation thereof until the warp weaver which of the. looms has stopped andthereby signal;

the one that needs attention.

The loom usually is provided with a plurality of heddle frames 4, as noted above, operated selectively by harness mechanism that is shown diagrammatically in Fig. l. The warp threads are threaded through the heddles in the frames and the latter are moved selectively vertically in properly timed relation by means of flexible members or wires 18 and 19, connected, respectively, with the top and bottom portions of the respective heddle frames and passing over suitable guides, generally indicated at 28. The flexible connections are operated by jacks 21, power driven in the usual manner so as to raise and lower the heddle frames as desired.

The operation of the heddle frames frequently causes wear and breakageof the flexible harness members, which would result in an imperfection in the cloth if allowed to go undetected. I have provided detector means therefor which may be installed in any suitable part of the flexible harness means, but is shown in the bottom flexible device 19. I prefer to use a wire of magnetizable material 22 connected in the harness and which forms a portion thereof,

The wire 22 is stretched between a pair of the guide assures rolls 20, overlying and spaced from a pair of magnetized bars 23. In the event of breakage of the harness device 19, the wire 22 will be attracted to the magnetized bars 23 and bridge the latter so as to close an electric circuit thereby, as hereinafter described more in detail and which is illustrated in Fig. l. The bars '23 are supported in suitable positions beneath the loom, preferably mounted above the floor. One of these bars should be connected to the input transformer 11 by a wire 24 and the other connected through a wire 25 with the electric circuit through the signal lamp '54 and by a wire 25 from the latter to the knocleoi'f box 16.

The conventional lay 5 is illustrated in Fig. 2, over which the warp is directed. This lay is mounted for swinging movement in the conventional manner, forward and backward relative to the heddle frames 4 as the cloth moves forward thereover.

Mounted in the front of the loom over the cloth takeup roll 7, is a cloth guide roll 3-4 suitably journaled in bearings 35, supported at the opposite ends of the roll 34 by the frame 1.

Operation The connection between the knock-ofi box '16 and the shipper shaft 8 is not illustrated in detail because this is well known in looms. However, it may be explained that the shipper shaft controls the clutch and brake, and thereby controls the operation of the loom as to starting and stopping. Whenever the lever 9 is pushed in, the shaft 8 is turned to release the brake and engage the clutch, providing for operation of the loom. When the lever 9 is pulled out, the loom is stopped.

The knock-off box includes a solenoid control with a mechanical connection to the shipper shaft which operates the latter when the solenoid is energized, whereby to stop the loom. The lever 9 is released and moved out when the knock-oif box 10 is operated.

In addition to the warp stop motion usually provided heretofore on looms, I have now provided for the operation of the knock-01f box it) in the event of breakage of the harness connections to the heddle frames.

In the event of breakage of one of the wires or flexible connections of a heddle frame 4, the wire portion thereof indicated at 22 in Fig. '1, will be thrown immediately into contact with the bars 23, bridging the latter. This will also close a circuit through the solenoid of the knock-0E box 10, thus energizing the solenoid thereof and causing the operation of the shipper shaft 8 to stop the loom. The closing of the circuit by the Wire 22 across the bars 23 will complete a source of current from the transformer 11 through the. wire 24, bar 23, wire 22, second bar 23, wire 25, lamp 54' en 4 ergizing the latter, wire 25' and knock-01f box 10. This will indicate at the signal 54 the location of the stoppage and inform the operator of the breakage of the harness.

As soon as the repair has been made and the circuit closer is restored to its normal open position, the circuit through the lamps 54 will be opened and the loom will then be ready for the renewed operation by the manual shifting of the lever 9 to restore the shipper shaft to its operating position.

While 1 have illustrated and described one embodiment of the invention, it is recognized that variations and changes may be made therein without departing from the invention as set forth in the claims.

" with the flexible members and frames, a pair of mag- I claim:

1. in a loom having heddle frames, harness mechanism for operating the heddle frames and including a magnetizable material connected directly with the harness mechanism, a pair of spaced magnetized bars arranged adjacent the magnetizable material in position to attract said material upon breakage of the-harness mechanism, a signal device, and an electric circuit connected with the signal device and with the magnetized bars in position to be closed thereby upon breakage of the harness mechanism.

2. In a loom having heddle frames, harness mechanism for operating the heddle frames including flexible members and magnetizable members connected in series netized bars arranged adjacent the magnetizable members in position to attract said members upon breakage of the harness'mechanism, an electric device, and an electric circuit connected with said magnetized bars and electric device, which circuit is closed by one of the magnetizable members moving across the bars.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 988,986 Dustin Apr. 11, 1911 1,012,379 Longden Dec. 19, 1911 1,353,343 Johnson Sept. 21, 1920 1,627,292 Matthews May 3, 1927 2,419,437 Bricout Apr. 22, 1947 2,465,615 Svancarek Mar. 29, 1949 2,471,845 Szabo May 31, 1949 2,475,549 Laplante July 5, 1949 2,509,017 Sear May 23, 1950 2,556,332 Meadors June 12, 1951 2,564,413 Vos'sen Aug. 14, 1951 2,594,209 Porter Apr. 22, 1952 2,611,017 Bailey Sept. 16, 1952 2,636,951 Fahringer Apr. 28, 1953 2,715,920 Butler et a1. Aug. 23, 1955 

